2015 end of year lists

Great list JP. There's a lot in the lower reaches I've not heard but will check out.

I'll end reading your lists by February, post mine on August and make the rankings by 2018

Top 25 Tracks

And, because it's the season of goodwill, I've stuck em in a spotify playlist (except for Joanna Newsom and Thee Oh Sees, cos they're too tight to give us their music for free)





1. Wand- Melted Rope
2. The Districts- Young Blood
3. Shamir- On the Regular
4. Belle & Sebastian – Nobody’s Empire
5. Donnie Trumpet & Thje Social Experiment – Go
6. Kendrick Lamar – How Much a Dollar Cost?
7. Joanna Newsom – Divers
8. Thee Oh Sees- Withered Hand
9. Rats of Rafts- Zebradelic
10. Julia Holter- Feel You
11. Deerhunter- Ad Astra
12. Low- What Part of Me
13. Grimes- Kill V. Maim
14. Bjork- Lionsong
15. Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat- Street Pastor Colloquy, 3am
16. David Bowie – Blackstar
17. Tame Impala – Let it Happen
18. Ezra Furman – Haunted Head
19. Mikal Cronin- Made My Mind Up
20. Courtney Barnett – Pedestrian at Best
21. The Amazing – Captured Light
22. Du Blonde – Hunter
23. Kurt Vile- Pretty Pimpin’
24. El Vy – No Time to Crank The Sun
25. Blur - Pyongyang

First thoughts:
-Good job, guys.
-I tend to think Joanna Newsom and Laura Marling are the same person.
-I liked what I heard about The Epic, but 3 hours is too epic for me.
-Taylor Swift > Ryan Adams
-The Vaccines > Sleaford Mods
-Surprised Weller is not Karl's number 1

btw as always, I'll only count up to 30 from each list

I actually wasn't overly keen on his latest one. I like the direction he went in, but overall it was one of the weaker sets of songs hes released in a while.

I concur. The concept was more interesting than the tunes.

Yeah, but still. You know.

Awesome list JP

Come on slags get posting, the more you post the more Barny has to work!

Does anyone have any Alter Ego's that fancy posting some fake lists 

I will get mine done soon I hope!!!

Hi I can't post my list yet, gonna have to leech off all your lists first. As it stands it's a sturdy collection of boringly decent 3.5's. Gonna need those 4's.

ps. Courtney Barnet is a singing potato?

Surprised non of the 3 lists posted so far contain Bronson's Mr Wonderful album. I personally think it's a real return to form, not on par with dr lechter or the the blue chips albums but I enjoyed it a lot more than saab stories and rare chandeliers.

Since he bottled it big time when Ghostface called him out he's gone down in my estimation.

Just came in here to say I've just read JP's list and I can't believe Medium 21 are still about.

Anyway I'm a parent now and I have had no time to listen to anything new, well apart from Sleaford Mods so by default they are the one and only entry on my album of the year list. Well done Jason and Andrew.

Action Bronson will be high up my list. I'm putting the finishing touches to it.

Part One:

This is the first time in a few years that I have posted a list, I really fell out of love with 'new' music for a few years. I'm not sure why, other distractions probably, but this year, i've got right back into it and managed to listen to and get into quite a few new albums. At the end of last year, I decided to get myself a record player and start collecting vinyl. I sold all my CD's at the start of the year and I think this attributed to my reinvigorated passion for hunting down music. Whether it be old or new, I've spent a lot of time trying to track down many of my favourite albums on vinyl and spending a lot of time in record shops this has only helped. I've also gotten back into gigs and forgotten how much I loved doing that, I've been to 35 gigs this year which is the most for quite a few years and I already have a few booked in for next year. Anyway, i've done a top 40, here are numbers 40-31..

40. Archy Marshall - A New Place 2 Drown

I’ve placed this at the lowest point on the list, as I’ve only just discovered this in the last week or so, it may well grow on me more as I’m really enjoying it so far. It’s odd to really place, it’s sort of has a hip-hop vibe, but loosely. It incorporates elements of trip hop and grime I suppose, scratchy beats. It’s just a young TCOTU kid who has recorded under different guises in the past (Kid Krule), Sort of doing a similar thing to what Mike Skinner was doing years, observing TCOTU and the Uk in 2015.

39. Martin Courtney - Many Moons

I heard a couple of songs from this album beforehand and was really looking forward to it, I’ve never been huge on Real Estate, but enjoy them in places. Unfortunately the album didn’t quite live up to those first couple of songs, but I still enjoyed it. The production might just be a little too clean for me, which seems to make the album a bit samey.

38. Jaco Gardner – Hypnophobia

First time I’d heard anything by him, went through a bit of a loop with it, enjoyed it at first, but then stopped going back to it. I’ve been giving it a few listens again recently. It’s obviously steeped in a certain era, but I quite enjoyed, if not exactly blown away.

37. Du Blonde - Welcome Back to Milk

It’s funny, because I’m still not 100% sure on this, I really enjoyed it when it first came out, then saw her live and hated her band members, just a bunch of wankers, and it put me off a bit. It’s never going to blow anything away, but there are some solid and interesting ideas going on. If the production was a little less polished, It may have done more for me.

36. Blur - The Magic Whip

I have exactly the same issue with this as JP mentioned earlier on, every time I listen to it, I very much enjoy it, but I’m not often compelled to go back to it, so I feel like I haven’t given it enough attention to warrant it being any higher. This is absolutely how the first Blur album with all original members since 1999 should sound.

35. Anna von Hausswolff - The Miraculous

Another album I’ve been listening to lately. It’s very much a mood record, it’s not something I think you can just throw on at any time. The majority of the record was recorded using a 9,000 piece Pipe Organ. It’s dark and gloomy, a couple of the longer songs have a Swans type feel to them. I’ll be spending some more time with this.

34. Lady Lamb the Beekeeper - After

First off, this could be so much better, there are some really great things on this record, but it also suffers from lagging in a couple of places. I stumbled across this as a recommendation on last.fm. She’s a singer songwriter type, but not in a whimsical acoustic lament type way, she flirts with arrangements, styles, time signatures, sometimes in the same song and she has some interesting lyrics and themes. I just feel the album could do with a little editing.

33. The Libertines - Anthems for Doomed Youth

In what seems to be the general consensus for the record, I was more surprised by the fact that it wasn’t awful or pastiche, than I was totally enamoured with its merits. That said I’ve come back to it a lot and despite a few sidesteps, I think it’s a pretty solid record. Much like Blur thing earlier, I’m glad they made a record like this, and not one which attempted to recapture the shambolic edge of their earlier albums.

32. Torres – Sprinter

It’s probably a little unfair, but as Karl already mentioned, the PJ Harvey comparisons are clear for all to hear. But that’s not a bad thing. She is more than capable of being more direct, musically and lyrically, as well as delving into soundscapes and noise, which I think works well.

31. Alex Bleeker & The Freaks - Country Agenda

Another record from a Real Estate member to make my list, I much prefer this one. It’s called ‘Country Agenda’, it’s very country, but the production is a little less slicker and I think arrangements wise, they go in more interesting directions than the Martin Courtney record.

30. Ezra Furman - Perpetual Motion People

I’d never heard any of his stuff before and came across this the old way, I heard it in a record shop. I asked the bloke behind the counter what it was and he was extremely enthusiastic about it. It’s fun, a record that flits from style to style, but his charm stops it from feeling to forced or ever to flippant. This hasn’t had huge play from me, but I’ve listened to it quite consistently since.

29. Roots Manuva – Bleeds

I’ve by no means ever been a huge fan of his stuff, I’ve dipped in and liked bits and bobs here and there, but he had pretty much disappeared off my radar until I heard the new single on 6 music and liked it. The album is taught and lean, 10 songs in and out, no messing. Some really interesting ideas and he floats between styles, there are a few really fantastic tunes on this. It could be a real grower.

28. Matthew E.White - Fresh Blood

I wasn’t as taken with this at first, I think because I’d loved Big Inner so much and at the time I was obsessing over the Nathalie Prass record which had been produced by White and the Spacebomb guys. But this has slowly revealed itself more to me over time. The record is more song based and he tries to capture a lot into a smaller amount of time, which obviously takes a bit longer to filter through, Holy Moly is a fantastic song, as is Vision.

27. Ultimate Painting - Green Lanes

It’s one of those no nonsense, unassuming records for me, sticks to its formula quite vigorously, reminds me of the third Velvet Underground album, nice harmonies, simple instrumentation and doesn’t outstay it’s welcome.

26. Simon Love - It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time

It’s just a pretty fun record, steeped in 60’s nostalgia, but full of well written pop songs with quite humorous and salacious lyrics, I stumbled across this on exy and tried it purely because the cover looked a bit naff and he looked a bit odd. Reminded me a bit of Jim Noir, where they’re obviously influenced by a particular sound, but are more than happy to put their hat on it and embrace it.

25. BADBADNOTGOOD & Ghostface Killah - Sour Soul

It works very well just as the shortish piece it is, I’d only ever heard of BADBADNOTGOOD from Karl mentioning them on here, there is a definite cohesion on this record. Too often for me, hip-hop artists fall into the trap of just filling out albums with as much stuff as they can and you end up with 78 minute albums with 32 minutes of decent tunes. This is just in and out, this is what we’re doing whether you like it or not. I’ll always be more drawn to albums in this spirit.

24. Mikal Cronin – MCIII

I’ve always liked his stuff, but this just seemed like a step up for me. I suppose it is a little more polished and rounded than his previous albums, but I think that works better for what he wants to achieve. I like the way the album works, with the stand alone songs on side one and the suite of songs on side two. Great instrumentation throughout and a real knack for a hook.

23. Wavves x Cloud Nothings - No Life for Me

I’ve never really liked either of these bands so I’m really not sure why I like this so much. I loved the songs released before the album come and the album really struck a chord with me when It finally came out. There’s just something about it, it has a certain reckless abandon to it. It’s only what, 23 minutes or something, but it feels like the perfect length. If this list was compiled three months ago, it would probably have been in my top ten.

22. Kamasi Washington - The Epic

Rather foolishly on my part, I put off giving this a go for so long, as the length and apparent scope seemed so daunting, so I’ve only really delved into this in the last month or so. But it’s pretty Epic in every sense. I’m by no means a Jazz aficionado, but I enjoy quite a bit of it and have been attempting to broaden my knowledge in recent years. This album is absolutely unrelenting, you almost don’t have time to breath. However, I just struggle with the three hour running time. I’ve yet to listen to the entire thing in one sitting. I understand that is part of its charm, and the fact that it comes as three separate ‘suites’ if you will does help, I’ve found it a better listen by splitting it up. Funnily, if the second disc would have been released as a stand alone, it might have vied for top spot. Still more delving to go on this for me, but fantastic none the less.

21. Bop English - Constant Bop

The guy from White Denim’s solo album, I don’t know too much about White Denim, haven’t minded a few bits I’ve heard, but have never gone any further than that. But this record really took to me, it’s like packed with fantastic musicians, but its still quite loose and raw. Sort of reminds me of that sort of 70’s sound, Steely Dan type stuff. There are some fantastic pop songs and hooks lurking all over this record, and the production and musicianship keep it fresh throughout.